


Ice Baths and Cold Showers

by Bastet5



Series: The Wild Hunt [25]
Category: FBI: Most Wanted (TV 2020)
Genre: Falling Through Ice, Gen, Hidden Dangers, Hunt, Snow and Ice, Team as Family, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27618706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bastet5/pseuds/Bastet5
Summary: January 2019In the midst of one of the most brutal winters New York had faced in many years, a hunt goes south for the team, leaving Kateri and Hana in a battle for survival. Their enemy? Mother Nature itself.
Relationships: Clinton Skye & Original Female Character(s), Kenny Crosby & Hana Gibson & Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Wild Hunt [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678864
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	Ice Baths and Cold Showers

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the delay. I meant to get this story up on Monday, but I was just too tired to finish editing it. I'm so ready for Thanksgiving break.
> 
> So happy that the new seasons of FBI and FBI: MW premiered yesterday!! I already have plot-bunnies from watching the sneak peaks on Youtube!! Can't wait until I have time to watch on CBS.com.

Winter was fast becoming Kateri’s least favorite season of the year. Weather wise, January 2019 was shaping up to be one of the most brutal Januaries in Kateri’s memory: days upon days of brutally cold temperatures and multiple large snow storms pummeling not only New York but large sections of the United States, as well.

Just because the weather was horrific and brutally cold … _and all around good time for a fireplace and hot drink of choice …_ did not mean, however, that crime stopped.

That meant the team was not able to stop either.

In a day where even the US Postal Service was suspending deliveries … _and that like barely happens … like ever …_ in some especially dangerously cold areas, there was no rest for the wicked, and thus there was no rest for law enforcement either.

_Bloody h**l, Chicago’s setting its train tracks on fire just to keep him usable.[1]_

_Almost need to be a polar bear to go out some days._

In late January at the beginning of the worst of the late-January polar vortex,[2] just days after the end of the hunt for Blake and Stevie Wilson, a man named Jason Todd—no relation to the Batman character—motivated by problems at both work and home murdered his wife and two children in cold blood; went on a rampage at his work place in the Bronx, killing two coworkers and wounding several more; and then fled the city. Within the day, the FBI placed Todd on the Most Wanted List, and Kateri’s team was handed the case.

Todd’s rampage had been planned out carefully— _reminds me of the Gillman case last year. I bloody hate family annihilators_. Nothing about his actions were impulsive. He was ruthless, cold-hearted, a man profiled as having psychopathic tendencies. Todd led the team on a merry chase, before they finally tracked him down to a hunting cabin in upstate New York in the wilderness in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains near New Hudson.

* * *

Kateri was quite sure she had never worn so many layers in her entire life. _Don’t ever remember it being this bloody cold before. Someone transport us all to Antarctica and forget to tell us?????_ It was around dawn (7ish), and the team was getting dressed and kitted up at their hotel in New Hudson before they lived to drive out to Todd’s cabin. The temperature outside was around five below with a twenty mile per hour wind, which made for a potentially dangerous wind chill of 30 below, and to make things even more pleasant … _notttttttttttt_ , it was also snowing.

_Except for like one odd day, I don’t think it’s even hit freezing in this town for like three bloody weeks!!!!!!!!_

The brutally low temperatures meant that the most of the snow from the storms earlier in the month hadn’t melted either. _And since paved roads don’t go all the way to Todd’s cabin and we don’t want to spook him with a pack of snow mobiles, we get the pleasure of hiking part of the distance._ Snow shoes were beginning to seem like a good life choice.

_But back to my clothes._

_I feel like the Pillsbury Dough Girl … Woman_.

Kateri was exaggerating slightly, but with the wind chill around negative thirty and a walk in the woods to come, everyone had to dress warmly, very warmly. _Hypothermia or frost bite in the midst of this would be a complication we really don’t need … or want … like ever_. Thick wool socks and flannel-lined cargo pants were layered over long-johns. _Have had hypothermia. Not fun. Never had frost bite, thank God, and will definitely give it a pass._ A long-sleeve t-shirt, flannel shirt, and a fleece jacket were layered under her Kevlar over which was piled a parka. A beanie, scarf, and gloves completed the picture.

 _I feel like the Pillsbury Dough Girl … Woman_.

 _I can still move_ _… I think … somehow_. Waddling wasn’t even involved.

Everyone was bundled up warmly as the team formed up with SWAT in the hotel parking lot to head out. Poor Hana, especially, who was small enough as it was, was almost enveloped by all of her layers. She was complaining vociferously about the weather to Kenny, who seemed to be a cross between sympathetic and amused considering the look on his face.

_Far cry from Texas weather-wise today._

_Considering this cold snap, Texas’ probably cold anyway, but still …_ Having spent her entire life in New York or Quebec, Kateri was much more used to cold weather than Hana who had spent a good chunk of her life in the south.

Clinton joined her by the SUV the two of them plus Kenny and Hana would be riding in. (It was an all-wheel drive thing that was supposed to be able to handle the cold, snow, ice, and probably bad roads out in the middle of nowhere. Clinton, also, knew how to drive in very bad weather. _And I will happily leave him to it._ Kateri was a good, if usually cautious driver, but today in this weather on a case like this was not the time she wanted to test those skills.) “I’m on sniper support,” he said, leaning against the car beside her, his back to the wind, “So I don’t know who you’ll be with.”

 _Bloody h**l, it’s bloody cold. Only been out here a couple minutes._ Kateri wrapped her arms around herself and tucked her gloved hands into her armpits.

 _We should be out of here soon, I hope, before we all freeze solid like ice blocks._ Thinking about them all as blocks of ice brought back amusing memories of watching Loony Toons on Saturday mornings at the best of her childhood foster homes.

Kateri gave an exaggerated groan, “Bloody h**l, we’re going to be jinxed. I thought the boss knew by now that switching up pairings jinxes us.”

“It doesn’t always,” her partner corrected, though his eyes were amused.

“Just a lot of the time, it seems,” Kateri replied, rolling her eyes, “What’s the worst that can happen? No warehouses, no biker gangs. If we fall over, we might just bounce in all this getup.”

Clinton laughed, “And you’re concerned about Jess jinxing us when you say that?”

Kateri gave a rueful smile. _Welllllll …_

A moment later the call came to pack up, and everyone finished stowing gear and piled into the cars. _Ah, heat. Wonderful._

* * *

Factoring in the weather into driving conditions, it was a more than thirty-minute drive into the depths of the Adirondack Park Preserve. The elevation got slowly higher the farther they went, and there were trees and trees and more trees as far as the eye could see. Considering that it was the depth of winter, most trees had branches completely bare of leaves, but there were plenty of evergreens whose massive leafy bulks inhibited sightlines already decreased by the weather and the snow swirling on the breeze.

_Visibility’s two miles or less in the city._

_Worse up here_.

_That’ll make this a lot harder on the snipers._

The cars were quiet as the drive passed. Kateri, who had the window seat next to Hana, spent the time running through the plans for the raid in her head, including what little the team knew about the layout of Todd’s cabin. Jess had let her know about pairing assignments for the raid right before they left New Hudson.

_SWAT partner for me, that’s usually less jinxed than other pairings._

_It’s really pretty out here._

_Think about the scenery later. Work to do first._

_I hope I don’t have to go rediscover my toes when this’ all over._

_How are you cold with this many bloody layers?_

Eventually the drive ended, the cars having gone as far as they could safely be driven. _Now we’ve run out of road, we get to walk. Joy._ Todd’s cabin was about half a mile further into the woods. Through the trees and the rocky terrain ran a narrow path wide enough for a snow mobile or an ATV but not a car. The recent tracks of a snow mobile were clear in the crisp, white snow— _no chemicals out here to turn it disgusting colors_. The light snow that was still falling was not enough to bury the tracks, which meant that the two teams would be able to use the path and not need to break trail until they got closer to the cabin and needed to spread out.

Kateri’s partner of the day was a big hulking man named John, who was similar to Kenny in friendliness and sheer bulk, though the two men’s features were drastically different. _Not that you can see much of anyone’s features buried underneath all these layers_. She appreciated his bulk especially with the snow. What snow on the trail there was to pack down was accomplished by those in front who traded off periodically, and Kateri was able to coast in their wake.

 _Someone my size is not built to be breaking trail, not that I wouldn’t put in the effort to help_.

The woods were eerily quiet save for the wind in the branches and the crunch, crunch, crunch of boots in the snow. Sounds traveled quickly over long distances in the wilderness, and so the teams moved as quietly as possible, but even the small noises made Kateri want to cringe. Talking was kept to a bare minimum and only done in the softest of voices.

Kateri flexed her fingers from time to time as she walked, occasionally reached up to adjust the scarf pulled up over her nose. Between her hat and her scarf and her hood, only a thin strip of skin around her eyes was visible, but still her face was cold.

_Even my eyes are cold._

Periodically, she had to blink away the tears that formed from the bitter cold and ran down her cheeks and froze solid in her scarf.

_Thank bloody goodness for these hand warmers._

Until they got a little closer to the house, Kateri could keep her hands in her pockets. If Todd approached on his snow mobile, they’d hear him coming a mile away.

_It’s so bloody cold._

_Clinton said frostbite on exposed skin in as little as half-an-hour._

_I can bloody believe it_.

Kateri bent her head against the wind and kept on walking. _One foot in front of the other. Crime never sleeps, and thus we don’t either_.

Finally, the agents approached Todd’s cabin, which was now just over the next rise. The teams separated, spreading out on either side of the path so to encircle the cabin and cut off all escape routes. The going was slow as the team had to break trail through the deep snow, and then once everyone in place, everyone moved forward, keeping to cover as long as possible.

_What cover there is … dead of winter so little foliage, and it’s not like our parkas don’t stand out against white snow …_

_Still …_

_No need to alert Todd we’re coming for him before we break down his door_.

Todd’s hunting cabin looked like a stereotypical hunting cabin … like something straight out of a Laura Ingalls novel. Firewood was stacked high on the porch alongside various pieces of junk, and two other outbuildings stood near the cabin.

Kateri felt a momentary prickle of unease start to form.

_Uh, did we know about those outbuildings?_

_I don’t remember that in the briefing_.

No, the teams did not know about the outbuildings as became clear a moment later in a hurried conference over comms between Jess and the SWAT team leader. _Someone screwed the pooch on this one_. _Guy we got the info from have forgotten a few things … or wait … the photos we had aren’t very recent. Buildings might not have been built then … might have been hidden by the trees._ There was a quick division in manpower, and the teams were divided between the three buildings: the house, what was probably an outhouse, and a small building of indeterminate use.

 _Bloody h**l_.

Kenny and Hana as well as Kateri and her partner and two other SWAT officers were assigned to the last building. On a signal from Jess everyone moved forward.

 _Here we go_.

The small building of indeterminate use was actually a storage building in which was parked Todd’s snow mobile and in which other stuff was piled. The six agents cleared it quickly, found no sign of Todd, and stepped back outside, as Kenny called the all clear over comms. For a moment, Kateri stamped her feet in place to keep the blood flowing.

Shouts of “FBI” and the like sounded over comms and drifted across on the morning air.

_Todd’s here. We’re sure of that._

_Not many ways in and out of this area, and we’ve been watching ‘em all._

_Now just to root him out_.

The storage building was located in back of the cabin, set back about thirty feet or so. The cabin itself had no back door so Todd was trapped if he were inside … _unless he plans to rabbit out a window. Drifts are certainly large enough, I’d say, though I wouldn’t want to try_.

“Rabbit!!” Hana suddenly shouted, a split second later starting forward at a run.

_Wait, what?_

Kateri had looked away back toward the house for a moment, but in an instant her head snapped around. A person who had to be Todd … _can’t tell for sure with all those layers_ … had emerged from the ground— _escape tunnel???? Bloody h**l!_ —and was heading out into the woods. _Bloody h**l_. Hana was already in hot pursuit, and Kateri instinctively bolted after her a few seconds later, calling an update across comms as she did so.

“Todd rabbited. Maybe tunnel. Heading west behind house.”

The deep breaths needed to run and yell at the same time burned her lungs with cold air. _Todd must have snow shoes_. His tunnel— _has to have been a tunnel_ —had brought him out maybe forty feet in back of the house, and he had a significant lead over both Hana and Kateri who herself had a lead over Kenny and John.

“Stop, FBI,” Hana shouted.

_He’s moving too fast._

_  
Can’t get a sight picture._

_Too many trees_.

Kateri had her gun out, but everyone was moving too fast to risk taking a shot.

Running in deep snow was extremely hard, and Kateri’s breaths were coming in gasps after no more than 20 yards. It was bloody cold, and her heavy boots were dragging her down with each and every steps. She was basically trying to run and break trail at the exact same time. Hana, who was smaller, lighter, and wearing different shoes and, at times, had an inexhaustible supply of energy it seemed, was making slightly better progress, and the gap between her and Kateri was opening.

Snow, snow, and more snow and trees, trees, and more trees stretched on for as far as the eye can see. The Adirondack Park Preserve stretched on for miles in every direction with difficult, dangerous terrain in some areas. _And we don’t bloody know what we’re running into._ Kateri had seen a map of the area just surrounding the cabin when the raid was being planned, but outside the boundaries of that map she had no idea what she and Hana were running into … _literally_. Even if she’d seen more of the area on a map, everything looked different buried under a thick layer of snow.

_Keep going._

_Keep going_.

The cold burned at her lung, and her scarf had slipped down around her neck. Her breaths came in heaving gasps. The gap between her and Hana had opened to nearly 10 yards, and Kateri could barely see Todd among the trees anymore. His lighter-colored parka was better suited to help hide him.

_Bloody h**l_.

_Can’t lose him._

_Gotta stop this._

_Don’t know where he’s running._

_Could be leading us into trap._

_Knows woods better than us._

_Gotta keep going._

_No back-up for Hana ‘cept me_. When Kateri had risked one quick look over her shoulder, neither Kenny or the SWAT officers with them were visible. _Don’t fall. Don’t fall._

Another exhausting dozen strides forward, the trees thinned out, and Kateri could see both Hana and their fugitive again clearly, her non-white coat and his movements making them clearly visible on a field of unbroken white snow edged by trees.

“Stop, FBI,” Hana’s shout came again, carried back on the wind.

There were other calls over comms, but the wind whistling past Kateri’s voices and the loud pants of her own breaths deafened the voices, garbling them into a morass of indistinguishable words.

_Jess, you jinxed us._

_Self, you jinxed us._

_What can happen I say?_

_Bloody h**l_.

“Stop, FBI.” Hana called again. Kateri was too far behind and to out of breath to add her voice to the shout.

 _Can’t keep this up much longer_.

As it turned out, Kateri and Hana did not have to, but what happened turned the situation from bad to worse in a split second.

Out of nowhere and with a piercing scream, Todd disappeared from view … straight down, arms flailing. There was a puff of white and then dead silence replaced the sounds of the chase.

 _Oh, bloody h**l_. In an instant Kateri understood, _We’re on ice. Bloody, bloody h**l_.

“Ice, Hana, ice,” Kateri screamed the warning.

_Is my comm on vox?_

_How far out are we?_

_Where is …_

Before Kateri could even complete that final thought, a crack split the air, and then a second later, there was the heart-stopping sensation of her feet going out from under her. Kateri tumbled sideways into the snow, almost faceplanting, and for a moment all she could see was white as icy cold rushed over her legs and up and up and up as far as her waist.

The ice beneath her had broken, but … for now … her upper body was out of the water. For a few seconds, Kateri lay there in the snow, stunned by the fall, the icy cold, and fear, trying to get her breathing back under control. There was something so viscerally terrifying about falling through ice and drowning, fear worse than the risk of getting shot on any hunt. Now, the only thing that stood between her and icy cold waters and, possibly, a watery grave was a thin layer of ice and her own training and wits.

_Je vous salue, Marie, pleine de grâce:_

_le Seigneur est avec vous;_

“Hana,” Kateri tried to shout. Her gasping breaths and the frigid air burned her lungs like fire, and her first try came out more like a croak. _I heard a scream while I was falling._ The second try was louder.

There was no answer.

_vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes,_

_et Jésus, le fruit de vos entrailles, est béni_.

“Hana, answer me!”

_Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu,_

_priez pour nous, pauvres pécheurs,_

Clinton’s how-to-not-die-in-the-woods lectures had covered a lot of topics, but unfortunately getting off a frozen lake when the ice was breaking under you had not made the list. _Even with my luck, what were the chances?_ Kateri knew the basics, however, from reading a couple of horrifically sad news articles about kids going through the ice and then doing some internet surfing. Hypothermia would become an issue, especially in this bitter cold, but not for a little while.

She had time.

 _maintenant et à l'heure de notre mort. Amen_.

“HANA!”

Kateri lay on the snow-covered ice for a few more seconds, trying to get her breathing under control, trying to get some sense of her surroundings. _I’ve gotta get off the ice._

_Advice is usually go the way you came, but is there a shorter route?_

_Can’t see anything under all this snow_.

_Where the h**l even is the shore????_

“HANA!”

Finally, there was a faint answering call, Hana’s voice faint and distant. Whatever had happened, she was still alive. _Thank God._ Kateri’s instincts screamed at her to go to her teammate’s assistance, but she knew there was no way she could. Until help arrived, they were on their own. Even if Kateri could get herself out of the water, trying to get to Hana would risk more ice breaking and getting them both into even worse trouble. Kateri had to worry about herself, about getting herself out of the water. For now … Hana was on her own.

 _Todd, I think he’ll be found come spring_.

_Okay, time to focus._

_How do I bloody get myself out of this mess?_

_Where are the others?_ Kateri knew the word had gone out, but where backup was, she didn’t know. Kenny and John had followed her and Hana at first, she thought, but she had lost track of them quickly.

Kateri upper body was out of the water, but from the waist down she was submerged, meaning that as she was, she didn’t have enough leverage without doing something to get out of the water. _Can’t get any traction with all this snow. Nothing to dig into_. Her only knives were also out of reach, one on her waist, the other in her right boot. Getting her hands wet, her gloves wet with icy water was the last thing she wanted. Wet fingers would only speed up how quickly she lost feeling, how long it would take to get frost bite, and she needed her hands to get out of this mess.

_Supposed to kick your legs._

_Then try to pull yourself forward_. So, the general rule for getting one out of ice jams went.

That rule, however, was probably not made with people wearing heavy, water-logged hiking boots who had just ran _who knows how far_ breaking trail through deep snow in mind. Kateri was running out of energy … quickly. Her will to fight was not matched by her ability to do so. She was able to kick enough to tread water and ensure that she stayed level on the ice and didn’t slip under further, but she simply didn’t have the strength to do anything more.

_How long’s it been since we fell?_

Time seemed different in situations like these, somehow passing horrifically quickly and horrifically slowly at the exact same time.

 _Bloody h**l, it’s cold_.

Hypothermia was something Clinton’s survival lessons had covered and something that Kateri knew from her medic training. The frigid air temperatures and the freezing water temperature would slowly … _or not so slowly_ … soak into their bodies and sap the strength from Kateri and from Hana. In these temps … the general rule was you had 10 minutes if you were fully submerged. _I might have a bit longer than that … might_.

How bad Hana was off, Kateri didn’t know.

“Hana, still with me?” Kateri shouted again.

The answer was a little stronger that time. There was what sounded like a “yes” and then several curses. In any other circumstances Kateri would have laughed.

 _If she can curse, she’s still conscious_.

_Are you going to lie here, or you going to do something?_

Summoning her strength Kateri started kicking again, trying to see if she could get her hips onto the ice. The icy cold water had sunk deep into her clothing and her boots, weighing her down and sending sharp stabs of pain into her legs and feet. _Bloody cold. Just kick. KICK!_ If she could get her waist out of the water, she could get to her knife and try to use it like an ice pick to hopefully get some traction and help her get the rest of her body out of the water. _Before I freeze into icicle._

Fifth time proved to be the charm, and with a grunt of effort sometime later—time seemed to be blurring the colder she got—Kateri got her hips up onto the ice, and for a minute she lay there in the cold snow, resting and trying to catch her breath … again.

She was so cold.

_How long’s it been?_

And getting tired …

_Can’t have been that long._

_Seems like longer through_.

A deep bellow broke the silence of the lake. “KAT! HANA!” It was Kenny’s voice, a note of almost panic in his voice. It was very likely not the first time he had shouted that call.

 _Oh, bloody h**l_.

Kateri pushed herself up onto her elbows. Once her head was above the level of the deep snow covering the … _river? Lake? Pond?? …_ even a little bit and out of the body-shaped depression in the snow, she could see what was probably Kenny some distance back following their path.

 _Could be anyone at this distance in that getup, but I know that voice_.

“ICE!” Kateri shouted back a warning, wandering at the same time why she hadn’t heard any updates over the comms. Carefully reaching one hand back toward her face, she realized with a touch that her comm was no longer in her ear. _Bloody h**l_. “WE BOTH WENT THROUGH!” She screamed.

 _Bloody h**l, it’s cold._ Sucking in the deep breaths to shout burned her nose, burned her chest with fiery cold.

“Hold on,” Kenny hollered back, “Help’s coming.”

_Please make it quick._

_It’s bloody cold._

_And I don’t know how well Hana’s doing._

“You still with me, Hana,” Kateri called, pushing herself onto her elbows again, letting some of the water drain from her clothes and trying to see more. Her ears were pealed for any creaks or groans, any clues that the ice beneath might be about to dump straight from the frying pan into the fire … _the icy-cold kinda fire_.

_Way I came’s behind me._

_No, off to my left._

_Uh …_

It was hard to tell. Everything looked the same covered in the snow. Trying to discern where the impressions of their footsteps were when she could barely see above the snow. She had gotten turned around when she had fallen, lost spatial awareness.

_Bloody h**l._

_But I do believe the trees are closer if I go forward._

_Not likely trees are growing in water_. Even if there were, low-hanging branches would give her a hand-hold, help her keep herself out of the water.

“Yea, I’m here,” the answer finally came. Hana’s voice was a little weaker now, but she was still talking, _which is a good sign_.

Reaching slowly down, Kateri was able to slowly loose her knife from its sheath on her belt, her actions delayed by her fingers which were going numb with cold. _Still tingling._ It was a small knife— _not sure whether I’m glad I left my KBar behind or not_ —but long enough to hopefully help her get a grip on the ice.

Kenny was more visible now. He and half a dozen other figures were making their way at a distance around, hopefully, what was actually the edge of the _lake, pond, river, thing_. Several of them had gear with them. One had what looked to be rope. _Please God let them be on land. Don’t let them go through_.

Help had arrived.

_Progress._

_Getting out … one step._

_Danger’s not over…_

Slowly, in fits and starts, and with several stops for rest, Kateri was able to drag herself out of the water until her lower legs and feet were no longer submerged and she was laying full on the snowy ice, panting for breath.

_My feet feel like somewhere between ice and non-existent._

_So cold._

The cold was slowly creeping up Kateri’s body, starting in her feet and moving up her legs, which now felt fat and uncooperative, the second stage after the pins-and-needles of your foot going to sleep. The tiredness was getting stronger, too. Slowly Kateri pushed herself back up onto her elbows and started to drag herself forward through the snow, inch by inch.

_I’m so bloody cold._

_I hate winter_. It would be awhile before she complained about summer heat in New York again. She wondered for a moment if she would ever be warm again. _Like that flu all over again …_

“Kateri,” Clinton’s voice was the next to break the silence of the woods, break through the slow march of simple instructions through Kateri’s brain, “Sit-rep!”

“Out of the water,” Kateri called back, instinctively responding to the command in her partner’s tone. She coughed hard, her voice breaking for a moment from the pain in her throat from the frigid air she was inhaling. She tried to eyeball the distance between the two of them. Her partner was along the tree-line maybe thirty feet almost directly in front of her with a blob she thought was Kenny standing beside him. “Still moving. Cold.” She paused for a second to rest, “Get Hana. She’s in trouble.”

The request was probably the hardest or, at least, one of the hardest things she had ever asked or would ever ask her partner to do, but it was logical. Even through Kateri judged she was closer to shore than Hana was, the majority of attention needed to go to getting Hana out. She was worse off, Kateri was sure from her voice. Kateri, however, was out of the water and moving … _slowly … inch by inch_. Clinton had the best chance of knowing what to do in this situation. _He knows everything else, I think._ His attention needed to be on Hana, _not me,_ as much as his instinct would probably be to come for Kateri first.

_Keep moving._

_Keep moving._

_If you move, you’ll be warmer._

_If you move, you’ll be closer to help and real warmth._

_Just keep moving_.

Inch by inch, Kateri kept moving, though her pace slowed. The further she got, the closer she was to help and the shallower the water would be if the ice cracked again beneath her.

_Is ice thicker on the edge or in the middle?_

_Ask Clinton later._

_Just keep moving._

“Rope coming!” It was Kenny’s voice this time.

It took three tries, but on the third try a line of rope with a large loop at the end landed about two feet in front of Kateri. Crossing those two feet of distance, which on dry land would have been a stride, seemed to take forever, but finally, even with fingers growing stiff with cold, she was able to get it around the bend of her elbow and grip it as hard as she could. With the assistance of the rope that gave her a form of traction, better than she had been getting with the knife, _grip’s going_ , Kateri was able to move a little faster, and within several more minutes, Kateri had halved her distance to shore.

_How long has it been since we fell?_

_Seems like forever._

“Come on, Kat. Not much farther,” Kenny was coaxing her, which made Kateri realize she had stopped moving, “Come on, Kat. You can do it.” He coaxed, a pleading note in his voice. He was scared, she realized, “Just keep moving.”

_So cold._

“I can’t come out that far. You’ve got to get a bit further. Come on, Kat.”

 _So cold._ Kateri was wrapped up in about as many layers as a polar bear, but as the cold and snow seeped into her bones and the water in her soaked pants and socks leached up her body, those layers seemed to be working against her. _So cold_. They just held the cold closer, it felt like.

“Come on, Kat,” Kenny was still pleading, and Kateri realized she had stopped crawling … again.

_Don’t let him down._

_A little farther._

_Just a little farther._

With an effort, Kateri pushed herself back up onto her elbows. Her hands felt almost totally numb now, and she was so tired. Moving on hands and knees was probably beyond the capabilities of her cold-numbed legs, but she started moving again slowly, dragging herself inch by inch through the snow. It seemed to take forever, but she made it several more feet before finally collapsing again into the snow. Her strength was spent.

“Come on, Kat,” Kenny’s voice came again, “Just a little farther.”

Kateri was too cold to force out a response that would be louder than a croak.

Noises carried clearly on the crisp winter air, and with the snow a little less deep where she was, Kateri could see and hear what happened next. Once it became clear that Kateri could go no further on her own, Kenny gave an audible growl and passed the rope off to the SWAT officer next to him. Carefully, he moved away from the safety of what had to be the shore and headed out onto the ice toward Kateri. She was probably about ten feet from them. Where the shore line was, she didn’t know.

Kenny moved slowly and carefully, almost gingerly, and though there were a few heart-chilling creaks, the ice held, and soon he reached Kateri’s side.

“I’ve got you, Kat,” Kenny said softly, “Can you roll over?”

That Kateri could do. “Cold,” she whispered.

 _So cold_.

Kenny had pulled his scarf down so his face was visible, fear and concern clear in his expression. “I know, Kat. Me, too. We’ll get you warm soon enough,” he replied. He slipped his arms underneath her, and with a grunt of effort lifted her up into his arms. Still the ice creaked but held.

Exhausted beyond measure, Kateri let her head loll against Kenny’s shoulder, and before her eyes slipped closed, she could see toward the hole where Hana had fallen, and the parka-clad forms inching closer. _Be careful, Clinton_. She knew he would probably be in front. He wouldn’t send someone to do a job he wouldn’t do himself first.

“Stay awake, Kat,” Kenny growled at her, worry sharpening his tone, “Don’t go to sleep on me. Not right now.”

Sleepiness was one of the major danger signs with hypothermia, but Kateri was almost too cold and too tired to care. She felt like an icicle, and everything was feeling numb. She forced her eyes back open as Kateri set her down in the snow on the shore with a groan and a muttered curse.

“You’re bloody heavy, Kat,” he said, trying to rile her, trying to keep her awake.

Through chattering teeth, Kateri forced out a reply, “What a nice thing to say about a lady. Didn’t your mother teach you manners.” She was half-sitting upright in the snow, leaning against Kenny, her head tucked under his chin. She felt almost boneless, didn’t think she could have stayed upright if it weren’t for Kenny.

He rubbed his gloved hands briskly up and down her arms and back. “Just stay awake. Medic’s coming. Just stay with me.”

 _Get some place warm soon, please_.

“I hate winter,” Kateri whispered, fighting to not let her eyes slip shut.

“Yea, me, too,” Kenny replied, voice half-distracted.

_Please let Hana be okay._

* * *

The SWAT team medic, thankfully for Kateri and soon for Hana, was a woman, not a man, since the first treatment for a hypothermia victim rescued off the ice was getting the wet clothes off and getting him or her wrapped in blankets. Barnes arrived a minute later, and Kenny was shooed off. Despite the bitter cold outside, the two quickly got her half-undressed and wrapped in warm blankets speedily and tucked away in a rescue toboggan.

(The only shelter nearby was Todd’s cabin, and that was who knew how far back over bad terrain and deep snow.)

The other main problem of getting into trouble in the middle of nowhere was that you were in the middle of nowhere. As Kateri overheard, the nearest hospital was like an hour away by car if the weather held, and cold and recent snow wasn’t exactly the time to be going overboard on the gas pedal either. _Recipe … disaster …_ With hypothermic drowsiness fully flowing over her, despite the actions of the medic to start warming measures, Kateri drifted, catching only periodic flashes of movement and conversations around her.

Louder commotions and actual movement roused Kateri sometime later. Hana was out of the water, off the ice, and had been bundled into other rescue sled thingy like her, and the two were being carted across the snow like sacks of potatoes to a waiting helicopter.

 _Oh, bloody h**l_ , was Kateri’s one muzzy thought when she saw the helicopter. _‘s small._

But before her claustrophobia could kick into gear, Kateri soon drifted away again, the cold lulling her back towards sleep.

* * *

When Kateri woke again, it was to a rush of instinctive panic at the sudden new surroundings and the fiery, stabbing pain of returning warmth to body, especially in her feet and hands. After a moment, her surroundings—scratchy coverings, the needles in her arms, the bland decorations—registered with her, and Kateri realized she was in a hospital room. She was covered liberally with blankets, and hot pads were tucked around strategic … and awkward … areas of her body, returning the heat the snow and icy water had leached from her body. IVs … _warm saline?_ … ran into both arms. Her thoughts were a little clearer now, for which she was glad. A nurse was in the room checking on her, and after answering a few basic questions, Kateri fell asleep again before she could ask about Hana or her other teammates.

When Kateri drifted toward wakefulness, the curtains in the room were drawn, and the clock high up on one wall said it was getting quite late. The pain of feeling returning to her limbs had faded, but she still felt a little cold, as if she needed to turn the heat in her apartment up a degree or two, and felt as if she’d been put through the wringer. _Bloody h**l, what a day!_ Clinton was sitting at her bedside, reading a copy of a local newspaper. He looked tired and drawn but unhurt.

“Where are we?” Kateri asked a few minutes later when she was awake enough to force words out of her mouth without them being unintelligible.

_Been in too many hospitals._

_All look the same._

Her partner started slightly, which was in and of itself surprising. Kateri usually … _when I’m not having a nightmare_ … woke up quietly and could look as if she were still asleep, a skill she had learned out of necessity. Clinton was quite used to that, and it was hard for her to get the drop on him anyway. _He’s usually the one accidently startling me. The ninja._ Putting the paper down, Clinton looked up and smiled, clearly relieved to see her awake. “Elizabethtown Community Hospital,” he replied.

Kateri made a face, _Well, that’s a blast from the unpleasant past._

Elizabethtown Community Hospital was the same hospital that Kateri had been treated at after she had been kidnapped in December 2017.

“One of Hana’s doctors remembers you,” Clinton added dryly.

_What a thing to be remembered for!_

“Lucky me,” Kateri replied sarcastically, shifting slightly in bed so she was sitting up slightly more, “How is Hana?” Her left arm no longer had an IV needle in it, so she reached up one hand to scrub her face.

_Never saw her after you got her out._

_Just a bundled-up lump in the stretcher thingy_.

Clinton’s face grew graver, and Kateri’s heart sank into her proverbial boots. _Oh, bloody h**l, please no!_ “Not well,” he replied, _okay, thank God, not dead then_ , “She went fully under at first and swallowed a lot of water. It was longer before we could get to her. Severe hypothermia. Pneumonia, and some frostbite on her feet. She shouldn’t lose any toes, but doctors aren’t sure that she will get complete feeling back.”

 _Bloody, bloody h**l_.

“Where is she?”

“Up in ICU. Kenny and Barnes are with her. Jess is off getting some things wrapped up.”

_I see._

_How soon ‘till I can get out of this bed and go see her?_

“I think I’d rather be shot than go through that again,” Kateri murmured, giving an almost reflexive shiver, “I don’t think I’ve ever been that cold in all my life.”

_And I’ve been bloody cold before, or at least felt bloody cold._

_I hate the bloody flu_.

“We didn’t know what was happening, where we were until too late, until he screamed … bloody h**l, that scream … then he just disappeared. Then it was too late. I went down. Then Hana went down. Chain of dominoes. Nothing we could do.”

_I hope it was quick._

_No one deserves to go out that way_.

Clinton nodded, “It was an eventuality none of us had planned for or even thought about it. The lake,”— _so that’s what it was_ —“wasn’t even on the map, and no one thought Todd would rabbit or get that far in this weather anyway.”

Kateri nodded tiredly and shivered again. Her reserves of energy were fading, and she felt like sleeping again. “Snowshoes. He had snowshoes. That’s how he got so far ahead of Hana and me. Hana got a head start. Too fast. I was going straight down into the drifts.”

An ah-ha look passed over Clinton’s face. “I’d wondered, but his trail was too disturbed for me to tell for sure.” He rose from his seat long enough to grab the extra blanket that lay folded at the foot of the bed— _and that I’d never noticed. So much for my situational awareness. Nearly bloody froze to death. You’re allowed to have an off day_ —and tucked it around his partner before retaking his seat. “You got lucky, kid. You didn’t go all the way in, didn’t get thoroughly soaked. You were hypothermic, but,” and there he paused for a moment, “a lot better off than Hana, and you only have superficial frostbite on parts of your feet and toes.”

_Bloody h**l._

_For Hana and for my feet._

_Walking’s going to be fun for a bit._

“Least we’re alive. Don’t take that for granted,” Kateri responded, shooting her partner a grateful smile, “Pure dumb luck. Breaking trail in snow that deep, I was exhausted by the like. Feet felt like lead. I bloody tripped and fell. When the ice broke under me, all of me wasn’t on top of the hole.”

“You did everything right as far as Kenny and I could see. You got yourself out, and Hana’s going to be alright. She’s in serious condition, but the doctors aren’t expecting this to go bad.”

“Think they’d let me see her?” Kateri asked.

“Probably in the morning if you agree to a wheelchair.”

Kateri groaned somewhat for show but nodded, “To see her, sure.”

Clinton let the conversation fade away at that point, and after a long, crazy day and with tiredness drifting back over her, Kateri soon found herself on the edge of sleep. Her final thought before sleep claimed her was, _Never going to look at cold showers the same way ever again_. 

* * *

[1] <https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/here-is-why-chicago-is-setting-its-train-tracks-on-fire-1985951>.

[2] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2019_North_American_winter_storm>.

**Author's Note:**

> This is all the inspiration that has struck me for the moment on this story, though I might continue it at some point. 
> 
> Hana does fully recover, as I allude to in Reveille, Chapter 1: "Hana’s injury leave after the Ice Bath mission hadn’t even come close to challenging that record. Thankfully, for her sake. The powers-that-be also let her come back early and just sit in the bus and work with her feet propped up before she was cleared for field duty."


End file.
